Hydrocarbon-producing wells often suffer from an inflow of water at some time during their production life. In many wells, water is not produced initially, but as the hydrocarbons are removed from the reservoir, sub-surface water tends to enter the wellbore and migrate into high permeability regions and fractures. After a period of time, if left uncontrolled, the water may dissolve clays and channel in the earth formation, leading to the production of even more water. Eventually, the additional hydrostatic head from the water may reduce wellhead pressure, resulting in premature termination of the ability to produce hydrocarbons from the well.
Because of the detrimental effects of water production, today's well systems often include intelligent completion components that are deployed downhole to monitor and control the inflow of water and, thus, to reduce the amount of water produced. These intelligent completion systems generally include electronic sensors that monitor water inflow and transmit data to the surface via wireline or fiber optic cable. Although the amount of water in the produced liquid may be readily discerned by surface measurements, the electronic sensors can provide valuable information that may be used to identify the downhole locations or zones in the well that are producing water. Based on this location information, control signals may be generated by the intelligent completion system and communicated downhole to adjust various downhole completion components, such as valves, chokes, etc., in a manner that reduces the amount of water in the total volume of liquids produced from the well.